Come on you guys! Joe just asked advice about updating his plotter chip. He didn’t want to buy a new computer system, rework his whole helm station or take a class in free NOAA charts! OK, here’s the deal. The boat I have in Maine, a Parker 25, had a Lowrance plotter aboard when I bought it. It only had the S.Florida chip in it so it was worthless to me. I was almost ready to scrap the whole thing and switch to Garmin but I did some homework first. This is what I found out. If you use the Navionics+ chip, the initial cost is $199 for the first year. For that money you can update as often as you wish. At the end of your year you can re-subscribe for another year for approx. 1/2 price. If you feel you need satellite overlay, 3D view and panoramic photos on screen, then you need the Platinum+ and that’s $399. For me running, around Penobscot Bay, I just didn’t want to hit something. The water’s deep up here but it gets real hard around the edges! Their methodology is interesting. You buy the ability to download the entire US and Canada but you actually download only the areas you intend to use. This is a memory saving scheme, which I appreciate. Cruising at 25 kts, I don’t want slow refresh rates! I’m putting the boat in the water soon, probably next week. I’ll update the charts for free before then but won’t buy the update until August. BTW, even though they don’t like Raymarine and Navionics, Jim and Bob are really pretty nice guys! Regards, Randy Pickelmann Morning Star-lying Stuart, FL Cool Change-on the hard, Thomaston, ME